1992 Buick Riviera from North America - Comments

Check Engine Light keeps coming on. Usually after 5 minutes of driving.

Had a mechanic try and find problem with a possible wiring harness that had frayed wiring. Mechanic tried to replace the computer module to diagnose why it wouldn't start. One day it was fine and the next it was dead. Couldn't get any response when turning on Ignition. It took one mechanic about 3 months to begin to figure out the problem, (and $1,500 later) to not have car running again.

Took to another guy to look at and his guys found the problem was re-wiring the harness and the crank sensor replaced- the car is running again. And I didn't get charged for the work! Thanks to a customer of mine (I work for a Turbo Manufacturer) He got me up and running again. I haven't had any other problems as yet! It is a great car otherwise. Next up is the shocks and struts.

It is a great looking car. Saw it"across a crowded car lot" and had to have it. I am glad to have it, but the bills are moderately high. Handles good.

I've had my riv about 6 months now. I've the same inter mitten starting problem. It cost me 300 to have a new ignition switch put in, only to have the same problem 2 months later. Now I have an emergency button under the hood for when this problem occurs. I will check into the crank sensor though.

Now I have a rough Idle problem, which hopefully a tune up will cure.

Hi,

I have the Reattas (1988-1990) as well as the Rivieras, a 1988, a 1991 and a 1993. The 1991 had developed a problem as in the engine would not start easily and that once started, it would cut out and or the car would hesitate when driving on the road especially I would have had to place the car in the neutral and use the gas pedal in order that the car would till remain on, i. e the engine still running. Poor driveability and the Service Engine soon light would come 'on' intermittently,

well, my advise is buy a factory service manual, I have learnt a great deal from this and am happy to say that it is very easy to diagnose 99% of the problems on yours or my Rivieras as one can invoke the Tech menu which in turn will give you the 'H'= History codes as well as if the problem is Current it would show 'C'. and in my case the problem was with the MAF sensor that solved the problem of the gears shifting poor, and the engine cuts out intermittently on the road and poor driveability.

Since after fixing this problem the car rean like a dream for quite a while, and so the Tech menu on the ECCP was once invoked to see if any codes had been set sonce replacing the MAFs, no Current codes, hence I went an deleted all the codes, and tested after a month if any codes had set since the last clearing it, no codes were set, so this problem was solved for good, I even started to get better fuel mileage.

A few months after the initial repair another Service Engine soon light came on and again the car would drive poor, lack of power, and difficult to start and a different problem, hence once again the Tech menu was invoked via the ECCP and it scrolled through and the problem codes were stored as Current i. e 043H and 043C, looking at the service manual it pointed to the Crank sensor, so I went to the Buick dealereship and bought a new Crank sensor, the old sensor was difficult to remove, however very easily accessible, just remove a single 10mm bolt and use a small vise grip for an easy replacement, after replacing this part my Riviera had much more power, and that the car runs in A1 condition despite it has 274,000Kms.I have recently changed all the brake lines, bled the ABS system, changed all the rotors and the brake pads including the rear calipers and the hand brake cables.

My email address if you need any help.

Citroens@allstream.net.

I was just on line reading over your story about your Riviera

and I I'm having some of the same problems. I have 1990 Riviera an the check engine light comes on an for some reason when I'm driving to seems to cut off. But I noticed that when certain things on the digital dash kicks in such as:coolant temp gauge, mph an the speed thing that let you know how fast your going the check engine light goes out an the car runs fine, but once all those things on the digital dash goes out the cars starts to act up. So I was wondering if it was possible if you could refer me to the person that solve the problem with your car because no one I ran across can seem to figure out the problem an seems as if I'm having the same problem as you were. If possible heres my email address:crissy21_cutie@yahoo.com I'll be waiting for your response thanks!!